Surveyed publishers saw referral traffic fall a median 22% over eight weeks in 2026
TLDR
Referral traffic to surveyed publishers fell a median 22% over eight weeks in 2026, after a 10% drop in 2025, according to a publisher group's brief.
Optimixed Overview
Optimixed's original report on this story.
Referral traffic to surveyed publishers fell a median 22% over eight weeks in 2026, following a 10% decline in 2025, as reported by PPC Land. The figures come from a publisher group's brief, and the article raises the open question of whether the court will accept that brief and its data.
How we got here: earlier coverage
- Oct 28Bing's Web Visits Fell 45.6% Over a Year, OneLittleWeb Estimates
OneLittleWeb estimates Bing lost 45.6% of its web visits over the past year, while ChatGPT rose 35.86% to 70.78bn visits.
- Oct 19Search traffic drops to 12% of North American publisher pageviews in latest Chartbeat data
Search referral traffic to North American publishers fell sharply to 12% of pageviews in Q3 2025, down from 21% the prior quarter, according to Chartbeat data.
- Oct 8Publishers Revive Registration Walls to Convert Shrinking Referral Traffic
Publishers are deploying registration walls to identify and monetize visitors as AI-powered search engines shrink referral traffic to their sites.
- Sep 24Google Search and Discover traffic to publishers dropped 40% year-over-year, while direct and internal traffic grew
Publisher traffic from Google Search and Discover fell 40% year-over-year, according to new reporting.